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Eng V USA. AKA The Wayne Rooney Testimonial

Stelios

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Apr 25, 2004
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What the heck is going on here?! Stinks of a marketing exercise for Brand Rooney (sorry, the 'Wayne Rooney Foundation'). 120 so much more satisfying a number than 119..... Hope he gets booed onto the pitch :D (will never happen to be fair)

Thanks Wayne for your brilliant Euro 2004. Shame you did sod all since when it counted. I thought we'd said farewell to the ar*e end of the 'Golden Generation' but no. We'll have to re-live the disappointment one more time for a few minutes.

Who can forget the petulant red card in 2006 or abusing England fans during World Cup 2010? Or the worst England World Cup ever in 2014? Or the 1 solitary World Cup goal. Or Iceland 2016?

Will we ever see the like again? Lets hope not!
 

Colesman Ballz

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Dec 28, 2014
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As Southgate apparently did not have a hand in this, just who at the FA has decided that it was in their remit to start picking the England team ? Whoever it was should be sacked forthwith !

The responsibility of team selection should lie with the Manager and be his alone. It may only be a friendly, but Southgate should have the opportunity to pick whoever he wants, in the long term interest of the team looking FORWARDS !
 

fred binneys head

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Loving the boy Stanno
It may only be a friendly, but Southgate should have the opportunity to pick whoever he wants, in the long term interest of the team looking FORWARDS !
He did have that opportunity but misheard the brief and thought he had to pick a bad looking forward.
 

Terryhall

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You go me on the alarm clock
Lets note that this is apparently now a charity match for the Wayne Rooney Foundation... with the FA donating 0% of proceeds. Apparently there will be a bucket collection instead. Disgraceful (but sadly not completely surprising) from the FA to force Southgates hand in squad selection and milk it for their own profit.

The saving grace (which is minimal at best) seems to be that Rooney will be subbed on for the last 5 mins or so "as a goodwill gesture" and will not be allowed to wear the no. 10 shirt from the bench (it was originally rumoured he would play the full 90 as the no.10, which I'm sure would have been excellent as preparation for the Nations League game that this friendly is actually scheduled to achieve)

Geoff Hurst only got 49 caps, lets call him up next and get him to 50.
 

elginCity

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Believe this all stems from Southgate's first ever game for England, v Germany, when Lukas Podolski came on late for his 130th cap and scored the winner ! In effect that game was his testimonial.

Sympathise with the view that national selection based on sentiment rather than merit devalues the 'cap' and its rankings. Although Rooney won't overtake anyone else in total caps won, should he happen to score a fluke and adds to his record goal tally then it pushes the target further away from the likes of Harry Kane, and also devalues that achievement in the process.
 

Terryhall

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You go me on the alarm clock
Believe this all stems from Southgate's first ever game for England, v Germany, when Lukas Podolski came on late for his 130th cap and scored the winner ! In effect that game was his testimonial.

Sympathise with the view that national selection based on sentiment rather than merit devalues the 'cap' and its rankings. Although Rooney won't overtake anyone else in total caps won, should he happen to score a fluke and adds to his record goal tally then it pushes the target further away from the likes of Harry Kane, and also devalues that achievement in the process.
You can bet your house on who will grab the ball if there's an 89th minute penalty...
 

ExeterCityLad

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With the form Rooney is in at the moment, then he's more than deserving of his place tbh.
 

Terryhall

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With the form Rooney is in at the moment, then he's more than deserving of his place tbh.
Strike partnership with Bradley Wright Phillips?
 

Jason H

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Apr 1, 2004
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Apparently I'm going to this now courtesy of the Missus via her work. When asked if I wanted a ticket I replied "If it's cheap/free then yes, otherwise no", to which she replied "I got you a ticket..." without telling me the cost. If I'm paying £50 or something then, er, cheers.
 

Jason H

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It's free. Thank eff for that.
 
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